Watch above: A Saskatoon school’s annual fundraiser involves students, teachers and big money. Aaron Streck finds out how the ‘boxed lunch auction’ has become one of the school’s biggest financial supports of the year.
SASKATOON – It may seem like your typical auction, items are put up for bidding and the highest wins. But the annual “Box Lunch Auction” is Holy Cross High School’s largest fundraiser of the year.
“The big shift occurred in 2007 when the Grade 12 class that year really got it and they raised I believe $7,500 but they won the bid for their meal at $1,300, said Chaplin Louise Bitz.
“And they were giving it all, so it didn’t matter that they could have gotten it for so much less.”
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“We started in November during football season asking people for donations and then we had a dance, bake sales, even last night we went door to door around in our neighbourhoods just trying to get as much as possible,” said Grade 12 student Jamie Wingate.
READ MORE: Saskatoon students give back to the community in the community
Since introducing the auction in 2001, the money raised has gone directly to Development and Peace.
“A Canadian Catholic organization that connects with partners in the global south,” said Bitz.
“Primarily, we partner with people who design their own projects and ask for help and we partner with them for what they need.”
The Grade 12s take it pretty seriously, always looking to outbid the teachers for the most attractive menu item.
“We always try to match what they’re doing but never successful, the students are just phenomenal,” said industrial arts teacher Ron Blais.
“Ultimately, the Grade 12s, its fantastic how much they’ve raised but it’s kind of just a tradition to top every year the seniors raise more and more money and raise that bar a little higher.”
While the students raised $17,268 for a deluxe lunch in the staff room, the money is still being tallied on the other 19 menu items. The Box Lunch Auction has been known to raise over $42,000 in one year.
“It’s a whole community effort, everybody’s involved,” said Bitz.
The Box Lunch Auction came from a similar idea E.D Feehan High School ran for years.
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